Possible Pilot Deviation Poll

[201er]

4 hours ago, hais said:

officer discovered the error, and I was promptly cited for "illegally transporting immigrants". Got a letter a couple weeks later from CBP. The fine: $50K! 

Officer asked whether I noticed we are no longer allowed to put a "-" in the aircraft registration (used to be you enter C-ABCD, now just CABCD). It was a small note on the eAPIS I overlooked. 

Unknown flying craft carrying aliens? Sounds like a UFO to me! 

[hais]

On 5/19/2024 at 11:11 AM, MikeOH said:

I have got to know...are you saying you had to actually PAY a $50,000 fine???  Or, is there a happier ending to this story?

Happy ending - I never received the notice, and I thought I shouldn't call the officer to enquire as to its whereabouts. 

[Marauder]

Back when all this first started we were flying CAP for all of the presidential TFRs, and there were established CAPs around the country to immediately respond to interlopers into other TFRs. Once the airborne alert went away, Rich is right. For most TFRs, unless there are ground defenses set up to guard them (and don’t rule that out!) the attack would most likely be over before ground alert fighters could be scrambled. They’d all have to be the size of a presidential TFR to allow enough time for an effective airborne response. And that would be ridiculous.
TFRs now, aside from the DC and presidential movement ones, have taken on the same kind of effectiveness as TSA. Their value is debatable, but it gives the American people the appearance of their government doing something to protect them. The other piece is the ROE for engaging an aircraft that violates a TFR. Ross’s examples stand as evidence that no one wants to be held responsible for shooting down a civilian aircraft. And those aircraft went into the most sensitive areas in the country.
Cheers,
Junkman

Being one of those lucky owners based at an airport that is in the no-fly area of the current presidential TFRs, I have a perspective on this.

I don’t particularly understand the need for them. I lived only a few miles from the Prez and if it wasn’t for the TFR, I would not even have a clue he was in town. But by presenting the TFR, someone with ill intent certainly would know.

My airport is less than 5 miles as the crow flies from the current Prez’s house. If someone took off from my airport, stayed low (flat terrain the whole way), to your point, there is no way an intercept would happen. And even if Philly picks them up on radar, I have listened to the fighter/controller exchange where the controller helps the fighter locate the interception target. There is a nice YouTube video that showed this happening in the NYC area during the former Prez’s term. The controller was giving out vectors to help locate the interception plane. Too much ground clutter? Turns out it was a West Point Academy GA plane that was involved.

There is some entertainment value to them. Every time there has been an intercept, I usually know because I hear the fighters circling. That’s when I head to the airport to see what this intercept brings. Like the sweet octogenarian couple who clipped the western edge. We helped them find a hotel after the guys in the black SUVs were done making sure their denture cream wasn’t in fact an explosive.

Or the poor guy in the Cirrus, who had to leave his plane there for a week until the TFR came down. I guess having two pilots on board doesn’t guarantee that one of them saw the TFR notification.

But my all time favorite was relayed to me by a realtor friend. They were at a home and set up to do a drone video on the home being sold. They were swarmed by a horde of black SUVs and detained for a couple of hours. The drone operator was Part 107 but obviously slept through the part that drones were also included in the list of grounded airborne vehicles.

I do find it interesting how some of these interceptions are conducted. On a couple of them, the jets did the intercept only to be joined by a Coast Guard helicopter that followed the plane to the airport.

I made a suggestion to the airport manager to see if they could set up a FRZ type process for us. We already tried to see if we could get a gateway designation like KILG. But even KILG’s TSA window is pretty narrow. Our work around if we really need to get out is fly our plane to one of the two airports before the TFR goes active.

Another interesting thing we learned is that when these TFRs are up, sometimes when you look on ADS-B exchange, you can see a refueler doing circles over the area. Wonder how much that costs…

I wonder if isn’t time the approach is revisited…


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Pinecone]

It is a refueler or an AWACs?

 

[Marauder]

It is a refueler or an AWACs?
 

Some little birdie told me it was a refueler for the F16s.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

[Pinecone]

I would have thought AWACs for the radar.